The alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. this morning. On a Sunday. A holiday. Anyone who knows me knows I am NOT a morning person. I don’t
normally even think of dragging my
body out of bed before 7:00 a.m. But this morning, I got up joyfully as it was
time to worship our resurrected Savior.
A year or two ago, my friend Gail told me about a radical Easter
sunrise service she attended. They worshiped—at sunrise—in a graveyard. I told
my husband about it and he thought it was a terrific idea. This year, due to work
and other obligations, we were not spending the holiday with family, so we
decided it was a perfect time to do it. And we couldn’t have asked for nicer
weather on April 21!
So, a little after 5:30 a.m. (come on, you didn’t really
think I leapt out of bed right on the
dot, did you?), we threw on some warm clothes (it was still about 35 degrees
when we left the house) and we drove a few miles to a little graveyard near our
house. There were no houses or buildings nearby, so it was just us and a slew
of birds singing to us in the small woods behind the cemetery.
Dave had drawn up the service with parts taken from Common
Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals by Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and the Revised Common Lectionary.
We found a good spot where we could spy the sun rising and started with “Christ
is risen!” “He is risen indeed!”
The first song we sang
was “Come People of the Risen King” by Keith & Kristyn Getty & Stuart
Townend. The playlist Dave had spent an hour or two putting together last night
didn’t play for some reason, so we improvised. I told him he could probably find
the songs on YouTube. It worked! We sang
along with the Gettys as the sun came up over the horizon:
“Come people of the
risen King
Who delight to bring
Him praise
Come all and tune
your hearts to sing
To the morning star
of grace.”
It was glorious!
A prayer refrain we repeated
several times as part of the liturgy was, “Just when I thought I was lost; my
dungeon shook, and the chains fell off.” It was a great reminder of the
resurrected life that begins when one trusts in Christ as their Savior!
From there, we read Psalm
118:1-2, 14-24, reading alternate lines back and forth. Then it was on to the
song “Famous One,” written by Chris Tomlin and Jesse Reeves. The line that
struck me while in that place was,
“The morning star is
shining through
And every eye is watching
You
Revealed by nature
and miracles
You are beautiful,
You are beautiful.”
Revealed by nature
indeed! All around us, birds were chirping, the sun shone brightly as the moon
reflected its light, and fresh fallen dew drops sparkled in the sunlight on the
grass. It was so easy to see the image of the Lord reflected in His creation.
Then Dave read Acts
10:34-43, the Apostle Peter’s concise gospel presentation to the Gentiles in
Caesarea. I couldn’t help but think about how Peter’s obedience to preach to
the Gentiles eventually, over centuries, led to me trusting in Christ as my
Savior—another resurrection!
Dave had me read the
resurrection account of Jesus from John 20:1-18. There are so many things to
love about this account. John telling the story and mentioning that he outran
Peter to the tomb. Is that a loving ribbing between friends? They saw the strips
of linen and what is now known as the Shroud of Turin lying there in the empty
tomb, and it says John “saw and believed.” What was it about the position of those
things that caused him to believe? Did he remember at that moment that Jesus
told them He would rise again?
What I really love is
that Mary Magdalene, one of Jesus’ most devoted followers, comes to the tomb
and thinks the risen Jesus is the gardener. Did she not recognize him through
her tears of grief? She says, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where
you have put him, and I will get him.” (John 20:15) What does she think she’s
going to do with Jesus’ body by herself? Obviously, in her grief, she was not
thinking too clearly!
And then Jesus
simply says, “Mary.” Instantly, she recognizes Him and though she tries to
cling to Him, He instructs her to go instead to the disciples to tell them the
Good News. When she gets to them, she likely shouts joyfully, “I have seen the
Lord!” What an incredible moment given their days of crushing heartbreak. Jesus
is alive!
We completed our
singing with “Fairest Lord Jesus.” It was fun to sing “Fair is the sunshine, Fairer
still the moonlight,” as we could see both from our vantage point. We prayed the
Lord’s Prayer and inserted our own spontaneous prayers, including one for all
those who died at the hands of slaveowners and lynch mobs over the years. (We’ve
both just completed “An American Lent,” a Lenten devotional from www.repentanceproject.org, which we
wholeheartedly recommend. It’s definitely worth your time. And there will be
more on that in a future post.) We finished with a simple benediction that
included the words, “May He bring you home rejoicing.”
We did rejoice throughout
the day, but as we left, I noticed the grave of three children, born in the
late 1800s. The first lived a month, then died. The other two were twins. One lived
six days, the other lived two. I thought about the tragedy that family faced.
The heartbreak. Did they have any more children? But then the glorious thought
occurred to me that even now, those children are with Jesus in glory. I hope
they are also reunited with their parents.
So that was how our
Easter began in a graveyard. What a fitting place to be to celebrate our Lord’s
resurrection! Later that morning, we joined our church in singing, “Glorious
Day.”[1]
“You called my name
And I ran out of that grave
Out of the darkness
Into Your glorious day.”
And I ran out of that grave
Out of the darkness
Into Your glorious day.”
More than 25 years
ago, Jesus called me to Himself and I ran out of the grave of sin, despair, and
emptiness into His glorious, illuminating presence. I have not regretted a
single day with Jesus. Those days have not always been easy, but He has walked
alongside me the entire way, healing me, rebuking me, encouraging me, and always
loving me. It is my prayer that if you don’t yet know Him, that you would
earnestly seek Him and then you too could be released from your “grave.” Then
one day, you will spend eternity with the lover of your soul.
How did you spend your
Easter?
Copyright ©2019 by Cherry Lyn Hoffner. You
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